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Clinton

Another family history story. This one is interesting in that his Idaho case went before the United States Supreme Court in Davis v. Beason. This is the biography of Samuel Deer Davis (1859-1923) written by Dean G Grow, his great-grandson. Samuel Deer Davis married Mary Jane Williams, daughter of Sarah Jane Davis and John Haines Williams. Mary is the sister to David Davis Williams who I also previously shared his biography.

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“This is the history of my great-grandfather, who was instrumental in the legal attempts that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints undertook to counter the continuing political and legal assault against the Church due to the practice of polygamy in the late 1880’s not only in Utah but in Idaho where he lived.

“Samuel D. Davis was born in Salt Lake City on 22 July 1859 to David Woodwell Davies and Mary Deer. Samuel’s father had been a missionary in his native Wales for seven years before coming to America. Aboard ship, David met his bride-to-be, Mary Deer, also a native of Wales. When they arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, it was too late in the year, creating a delay in getting to the Salt Lake Valley. So they decided to marry. This occurred on 25 November 1852, in Kansas City. They most likely traveled across the plains with a group of Welsh immigrants in the summer of 1853.

Samuel Deer Davis

“After arriving in Salt Lake Valley, David being a painter and a glazier, set up his home and they began their life there. David and Mary’s first son, David Thomas was born on 4 March 1854 in Salt Lake City. Their second son, Woodwell was born in 1856 in Salt Lake City. David was sealed to Mary on 2 March 1856 in the Presidents office in Salt Lake City. At the same time and place, he was sealed to Elizabeth Berry, thus becoming a polygamist. Elizabeth being a native of Bath, Summerset, England. Their third son, Samuel Deer as indicated earlier was born in 1859. They were all shown on the 1860 U. S. Census, living in the 8th Ward in Salt Lake City. It was soon after that, Woodwell died, date unknown. Their fourth and fifth sons, twins, Hyrum Eynon and Joseph were born on 15 August 1862. Joseph died as an infant, but Hyrum lived to adulthood. Their last son, Septimus was born and died soon after in 1864, probably about the time that his father David Woodwell, died of consumption (Tuberculosis) on 20 March 1864. Thus Mary was left with three boys ages 10, 5, and 2. I was unable to determine what happened to Elizabeth Berry.

“In November of 1864, Mary married a man named George R. McLaughlin of whom we can find no record of birth, death or census information. They had a son George R. Jr. who was born 27 August 1865. Their second child, Mary Ellen was born about 1866 and died soon after. Mary’s second husband, George treated her harshly and abandoned her many times. One time for almost a year. The last time, she heard he was living in Cheyenne, Wyoming and had no plans to return. She divorced him on the 20th of January 1868. Thus Mary was continuously left with four boys to feed and care for. It was soon after this that she became seriously ill and the doctor told her she would soon die. Her last son, George was a toddler at the time. A neighbor, Charles and Jemima Walker offered to adopt George and Mary regretfully consented as she didn’t want to leave such a young child. Not long after, Mary recovered and went back to the Walkers pleading with them to return her son, but they refused. They were still neighbors in the 1870 Census with the Walkers showing George as their son at age 5. George died 29 January 1889 at the age of 24 in a train accident returning to Sugar House, Utah from an outing with friends to Red Bluff Quarry.

“Toward the end of the year, Mary met John Evan Price, another Welshman and became a polygamous wife of his on 26 December 1870. Mary was 39 years of age and 14 years his junior. He was in good financial circumstances at this time according to their granddaughter. He had settled in Samaria, Oneida, Idaho on April 16, 1868 with one other family, being one of the first. He is also credited with giving Samaria it’s name. Several others settled there the next month. A branch of the Church was organized there in November of 1868. Elder Lorenzo Snow, then of the Twelve Apostles, visited in July of 1869 and approved of the city plot, encouraging the settlers to continue to build and plant there.

“John brought Mary and her children to Samaria after their marriage. Two additional children were born to this union, Margaret Ann Price on 10 January 1872 and Elizabeth Jane Price on 17 March 1875, both in Samaria. Unfortunately, John died within a few years on 22 June 1878 in Samaria leaving Mary a widow again. But this time she was left in good circumstances where she was able to sell off property to new immigrants to Samaria. She reverted back to her Davis name after 1880. Her sons were now getting older. Her oldest, David Thomas was married in Samaria to Amy Ann Sawyer on 7 January 1879 just 6 months after John Evan Price died. Mary was the postmistress of Samaria for many years and the Relief Society President for 17 years in Samaria. Eliza R. Snow stayed in her home during a conference in Samaria.

“Her second son, the subject of this manuscript, Samuel D., had no formal education but only that which was from his mother, Mary. He married Mary Jane Williams on 11 Oct 1882 in the Endowment House in Salt lake City. Their first child, Sarah Jane, was born in August of 1883 and died the same month. Their second child, Woodwell Williams was born 17 November 1884. It was during this time that his wife encouraged him to get some formal education. He started by attending the district school in Samaria. Afterward he attended the James Chandler school in Washakie, Utah. It was a great sacrifice and struggle as he continued to farm and support his family during that time. He had so much success as a scholar in Washakie, that in 1886 he attended the Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah. He also studied law during his evenings. His third child, Edgar Williams was born on 1 March 1887. He soon became a partner in a law firm in Malad, Idaho of Evans, Gibbs and Davis.

Mary Jane Williams Davis

“At this time there was much pressure on the local LDS communities by the Idaho politicians who were strongly anti-Mormon, about the Church practice of polygamy. 75% of the population lived in the eastern half of the state and about 20% of those were L. D. S. which meant that they represented a large voting block.

“These following steps were in relation to the 1884-1885 law, not the 1889 one which was taken to the Supreme Court.

“From E. Leo Lyman’s “Political Background of the Woodruff Manifesto”: “William Budge, the leading spokesman for the Church in Idaho, tried to bring as much pressure as he could on the outcome of the case. Budge used Utah Congressional delegate John T. Caine to generate pressures on the Judge Berry through political friends back home. He also traveled to the Blackfoot judicial headquarters to confer with Berry before he rendered his decision. The judge, who recorded the conversation as accurately as he could recall, claimed the Church leader first quoted U.S. Solicitor General Jenks as saying that if the test oath law was taken before the United States Supreme Court, “it would not stand for a moment.” Budge also stressed the crucial nature of the pending decision on the continued allegiance of the Idaho Mormons to the Democratic party (Berry 1888).

“Berry’s reply demonstrated considerable admiration for Mormon industry and economic accomplishments but firmly stated his intent to “administer the laws as they were.” He made it clear he could not allow political considerations to affect his decision and expressed regret that the Mormons could not bring their marriage relations into “regulation step” with the rest of American society (Berry 1888). The published decision {Idaho Daily Statesman, 17, 20 Oct. 1888; Wood River Times, 16, 17, 24 Oct. 1888) not only upheld the test oath but ruled the Mormon arguments that they no longer taught or practiced plural marriage were merely a temporary posture of no importance so long as the general Church had made no changes on the question. The kind of concession necessary to relieve the disfranchisement onslaught, Judge Berry stressed, was a formal renunciation of the doctrine at a Church general conference, not unlike what actually occurred several years later.”

“From the Encyclopedia Britannica: “They enacted a law in 1884-1885 that all county and precinct officers were required to take a test oath abjuring bigamy, polygamy, or celestial marriage; and under this law in 1888 three members of the territorial legislature were deprived of their seats as ineligible. An act of 1889, forbade in the case of any who had since the 1st of January 1888 practiced, taught, aided or encouraged polygamy or bigamy, their registration or voting until two years after they had taken a test oath renouncing such practices, and until they had satisfied the District Court that in the two years after they had been guilty of no such practices.”

“The earlier law had been tested by the Church in the territorial federal courts, but was unsuccessful. This 1889 law, regarding voting, was commonly called “The Idaho Test Oath” which meant essentially that if you were a member of the Church, whether practicing polygamy or not, you could not vote and was retroactive to January 1 the year before. It appears that the Church decided to test this law all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

“In Samaria on Oct 27, 1888, 26 men including Samuel D. Davis asked to have their names removed from the records of the Church with apparent approval of the Church leaders so that they could vote in the November 1888 election but primarily to provide a test case. There were about 30 in Malad City who did the same thing. The new law having been enacted after the men had voted, they were indicted almost a year later for conspiracy to break a law that wasn’t created until the following year. The case became known as “Davis vs. Beason” and can still be found today by searching the internet.

“From the Deseret News on September 21, 1889: “The perjury case against Mr. Evans of Malad having been disposed of in the District Court of that place, the next matters of importance tackled were the conspiracy cases. Indeed there was practically but one case, fifty six persons having been included in one indictment.

“The matter came up for trial before Judge Berry on Tuesday, Sept. 10th [1889]. There was much disappointment among the virulent anti-“Mormon” element over the result of the case of perjury against Mr. Evans and the officers said that in the conspiracy matter they would get a jury together that would convict this time. For this purpose they scoured the country and imagined they had got what they wanted when the panel was completed.

“The charge preferred in the indictment against the fifty-six defendants was substantially that they had conspired together to break the laws of Idaho Territory, notably the Idaho test oath law, by agreeing to vote at an election when they knew that they had no right to do so.

“The case was tried and at 6 p.m. on Wednesday was given to the jury. On Thursday the 12th at 2 p.m. the jury came into the court with a verdict, in which they found fifty-five of the defendants not guilty and one guilty. The latter was Samuel D. Davis of Samaria.

“A new trial was asked for Mr. Davis by counsel for the defense and denied, and the court sentenced him to pay a fine of $500. The fine was not paid and Mr. Davis placed in jail for a maximum of 250 days [$2 a day]. Judge Berry was applied to for a writ of habeas corpus which was also denied, and an appeal from his action was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“The matter is in the best possible shape it could possibly assume for final adjudication. None of the acquitted fifty-five defendants can be again placed in jeopardy on the same subject, either under the title of conspiracy or any other. The appeal to the Supreme Court involves the validity of the infamous test oath law, which will therefore be decided one way or the other.

“The defense was conducted with marked ability, the attorneys being Mr. J. S. Rawlins of Salt Lake, and Mr. J. N. Kimball of Ogden. Mr. Standrod and “Kentucky Smith” appeared on the part of the prosecution.”

“From the above article it is clear that it was “arranged” in advance that one person would be the focal point for the test case. That person, having probably volunteered due to his legal schooling, was none other than Samuel D. Davis. He obviously knew that he would spend some time behind bars, but was willing to do that for the Church.

“To give a better idea of the named individuals in this case, they are as follows: Charles H. Berry, a former attorney general of Minnesota, later on, an associate justice of the Idaho Supreme Court who would have jurisdiction as the Judge in this case in Malad City. Joseph S. Rawlins was a city attorney in Salt Lake City and worked with Brigham Young and following Church leaders on matters of law. He later served in the Congress of the U. S. and assisted in gaining statehood for Utah. He was also known as the “Red-headed Reactor of the Rockies” because he made such a fight about the confiscation of the Church property. It was through his efforts that the property was eventually restored. J. N. Kimball also served as a defense attorney for the Church in Ogden. Drew W. Standrod came to Malad City, Idaho from Kentucky with his parents and took up the practice of law there. He was elected as the prosecuting attorney there twice and later became a judge moving to Pocatello. “Kentucky” Smith is actually H. W. Smith who was an anti-Mormon lawyer of prominence in Ogden, Utah and the author of the “Idaho Test Oath” law. He also later became a judge in Idaho. Sheriff Harvey G. Beason was an appointed sheriff who was just 29 years old at this time. His was the other name in the test case. He soon after moved to Montana and then to Gillette, Wyoming where he lived until his death in 1939.

“From another article in the Deseret News written in Samaria on September 30, 1889.

“”A very strange scene was witnessed here on the 25th inst. (Sept 1889) It will be remembered that Mr. Samuel D. Davis of this place was found guilty not long since at the District Court held at Malad City, of voting at the election held here last fall contrary to the provision of the anti-Mormon Test Oath law, and that he was sentenced to pay a fine of $500 and costs, pending payment of which he was sent to the county jail. He applied for a writ of habeas corpus which was denied by Judge Berry. Application was then made direct to Washington for a similar writ. Here it was thought the matter would rest for the present. But not so; on Sept. 13, Sheriff Beason came to Samaria and levied an attachment on Mr. Davis’ property having an order from the court to sell at public auction enough to cover fine and costs. On the 25th inst. said order was carried into effect. Sheriff Beason, Attorney Standrod, Treasurer D. Tovey, Commissioner P. Fredrickson and a few others came over. The sale began at 2 o’clock. Mr. Davis’ only horse was sold to Meyer Kohn of Malad, for $21.00. (Mr. Kohn has since offered to return the animal for the same price), which was about one-fifth his real value. Mr. Davis interest in the firm of Evans, Gibbs, & Davis was knocked off to Standrod for $190.00.

“It was the Intention to sell the little home where Mrs. Davis and her two little children reside, but the title being defective it was abandoned. This was all that could be found to sell and the sale came to a close.

“The sheriff seemed very dry after his labors for he and his companions indulged quite freely. They had apparently come over well prepared.”

“This article indicates that Samuel’s family also suffered because of the case. The article was incorrect in that there were “two little children” in the home. My grandfather, John Vincent “Vin” Davis was born on 6 July 1889 and was just a few months old when this took place, which means that there were two little children and one infant. It also indicates that his fine was reduced almost 40% by the $211.00 amount recovered in the sale. Therefore his sentence would be reduced by about 100 days, leaving 150 days remaining to be served. From the Deseret News on 11 January 1890, it indicates that the hearing was held in the U. S. Supreme Court, probably a day or two earlier. The hearing is several pages of arguments both for and against which I will not be discussing here. It can also be found on the internet by searching “Davis vs. Beason”. The ruling was handed down on 2 February 1890, upholding the Idaho law. At this time Samuel had been in jail for 113 days. I was unable to determine whether he remained the last 30 some days in jail or whether the Church paid the balance of the fine to release him or whether he was reimbursed for his personal losses. During this era many members sacrificed much for their belief.

“President Wilford Woodruff issued the “Manifesto” a few months later on 24 September 1890, ending plural marriage in the Church. The Idaho law was changed in 1893, the disqualification was made no longer retroactive, the two-year clause was omitted, and the test oath covered only present renunciation of polygamy, thus allowing members to vote once again. It took until the 1980’s to get similar wording in the Idaho State Constitution removed.

“Samuel D. Davis continued in his practice of law and in 1899 he was appointed Probate Judge of Oneida County, Idaho. He was twice elected to this office. In 1901, after the formation of the Idaho State Bar, he took the examination for the bar and was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state.

“His wife of 21 years, Mary Jane Williams Davis died on 19 March 1903 in Samaria. Later that year he moved his family of boys to Malad City to continue his practice and opened a new law office there. His brother-in-law, Isaac B. Evans, who had been on a mission in the south, introduced him to a woman in Salt lake City, whom he had known while on his mission. She was Alice Godwin, daughter of Handy Haywood Godwin and Elizabeth Ann Naylor Godwin. They were natives of Clinton, Sampson, North Carolina. She was a true daughter of the old south. Samuel was very interested and she was interested also, but I’m sure was concerned by the thought of finishing the raising of 7 boys. But apparently she was up to the task as they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on 13 November 1905. She bore him 3 more children. First, Mary Naylor Davis, 13 September 1906, second, Alice Deer Davis, 18 January 1908 and Samuel Godwin Davis on 6 March 1911, all in Malad City, Idaho.

“He continued in Malad City until moving to Salt Lake City about 1918. He was there in the January 1920 U. S. Census. He probably moved to Twin Falls, Idaho in the summer of 1920 to accept employment as the City Attorney. Two of his boys followed him there. One, Eugene, who was still living with him and the other, John Vincent and his family, who was still living in Samaria. In June of 1923, he was made the Twin Falls Police magistrate, but unfortunately, he died within 6 months on 13 December 1923. After the funeral, his body was shipped back to Samaria to be buried. His second wife, Alice moved to Salt Lake City, where she died 13 January 1945. Her body was also returned to Samaria to be buried.

“From the Twin Falls Times News: “Judge Davis was early admitted to the bar in Idaho, and served as county attorney and probate judge in Oneida county. He attracted wide attention in the early days by his success as an irrigation and criminal lawyer. It was his boast that some of Idaho’s best known attorneys had begun their legal training in his office. He was an active and prominent member of the L. D. S. Church serving as member of the High Council in Malad and Twin Falls.”

“Thus ended a long legal career in the State of Idaho and the life of a man who was willing to stand for his principles, even risking all his possessions at one time. He died at the age of 64, which would be considered still young by today’s standards. His part in the legal battle was apparently unknown to his children, grandchildren and their descendants. My mother did mention many years ago that she had heard about the voting issue. Those of his children as indicated earlier were very young and would not have known about the landmark legal case, unless he had related it to them. He was a good man and his story needed to be told, so that all would be aware of his sacrifice during another time of great difficulty in the history of the Church.“

It seems to be one of those weeks where there isn’t necessarily a whole lot to tell. So to make an entry, and anything with a little length, I will offer a smattering of thoughts from all over the spectrum.

A big Happy Birthday to Chris Horsley and Amanda Smith on the 14th. I sent them both e-mails and wished them the best. It is my Aunt Jackie’s birthday on the 25th, so Happy Birthday ahead of time.

Tuesday night Amanda and I went to pay a visit to Doris Coley. She lives over in Laurel Fork area. Amanda has worked with her for some time at Macy’s. She lured Amanda over there in pursuit of a free TV and DVD player. I really don’t care if we own either and would actually prefer not to. That is just a little more weight I will have to worry about moving in a year and another distraction to take away some of what little time we mortals have been given. Somehow I had come to believe it was a venture where we would go over and pick up the newly acquired property and head back home. We made an evening of it. We chatted about the nice lovely pleasantries of the life at Macy’s. Conversation turned to life in general and school. Of course I did a full analysis to see if her Coley line could in any way be related to mine (Hers is several hundreds of years in North Carolina making at least that long of a connection seeing how mine came directly from England).

She had a nice little piano in her living room that also became conversation. She invited me to play it and before long I was in my own land while the women pondered paths I didn’t care to walk. Before the night had ended we sang some hymns and even ended in a discussion about religion. I ended the evening with giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon and basically a first discussion. Sometimes I feel I am not as bold as I once was. Honestly, it seems that one relies upon their companion so much to bear testimony and Amanda had no clue of the missionary ways that I think that is the only reason it felt pretty weak. Sadly, I think both of us relied on trying to convince too much rather than just bearing testimony and letting the Spirit drive it to the heart. Amanda left thinking we had been too bold and I left thinking we had not been bold enough. She called us a few days later and made sure we were still planning on coming back. Either way, we don’t seem to have offended. I look forward to a return visit and whether or not she read any of the newly introduced sacred scripture.

Tonight I paid a visit to the Family History Library outside my normal working hours. We had a pretty severe thunderstorm this evening and the two ladies working inside decided to go watch the storm for a minute. Sadly, they left their keys in the library. I rushed down thinking I would find two drowned older ladies. Luckily enough they had only locked themselves out of the library, and not the building. So I spent some time visiting with them about the Merrick’s of Maine/Massachusetts. They decided to leave early so I played the piano and practiced some singing until a member of the Stake Presidency appeared to practice basketball.

Tuesday night at the library also proved to be interesting. For the second week in a row a young man who is a recent convert came into the library to do some research. He appeared with his laptop last week with PAF newly downloaded. He started putting in his family. He is preparing to go to the temple and wanted to do some of his own names for baptisms in about two weeks. He never even knew who his Dad was last week. This week he came back with dates and places and interestingly, was able to link him into the Cosby line. Once we did that we were able to take him back to Jamestowne and even followed the line back 1,000 years. He comes from a noble line in England. He was amazed to find ancestors on both of his lines whose temple work had been done. Some as early as 1932 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. I look forward to seeing him this coming Tuesday when we run these names through TempleReady.

Last Sunday we had our Stake Priesthood Meeting. We were introduced to the new Mission President, President Millburn. I prefer him much more than the last one. He seems much more humble and able to connect with an audience. In addition, he gave a great talk on fishing. He is an expert at it, that is for sure. Who else uses a stomach pump on a fish? President Mullins (who interrupted my singing and playing tonight) gave a talk about various topics. One was that individuals in the stake are not carrying their weight in fast offerings. I thought that was interesting. None of the other talks I remember. However, the power in the singing was easily felt.

Today I was branded again at work due to a broker’s dishonesty. A man gave me a complete sob story about why an appraisal was sufficient. He manipulated my inexperience in working someone else’s loan, added with the other person not recording what they had done, and my not being thorough enough to catch the little red flags has now cost the bank a loan which is considered a risk and investors will not buy it. Due to my approving of an updated appraisal, that wasn’t really updated, and the bank always standing by their word somebody got away with money that probably would not have been approved. Like speeding tickets with points, I have now gained my first and hope they will wear off over time… It is a good thing I no longer have access to that broker’s information for I would surely give him a phone call and let him know how sorely disappointed I am in him. At any rate, “Let God choose between me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds.”

Terry McComb’s funeral is going to be this coming Saturday. I so wish I could be there. Alas, we can’t do everything we want in life. His obituary appeared today in the Times News. I looked at it this morning at work. I am looking forward to having my own clipping from the newspaper for my records. I guess I will just have to pay a visit to the cemetery next time I get back to Idaho. I so planned on spending a day or two in Branson on the way home for a lesson or two. I guess I won’t now, at least stay for lessons.

We are headed up to Washington, DC again this weekend to attend the temple. I am very much looking forward to it. I have very much felt my faith increase this week and my soul feeling greatly nourished after some experiences in the scriptures. 2 Peter 2 and Ether 12 were powerful this week.

We received the Church News today and I read the parts about the new Brazil Temple. I was thinking how excited President Faust must be to have the temple dedication coming up and realized he had passed away. I guess he will be there at any rate, but not with a mortal body. I wonder who will be called next. I surely hope it is someone independent from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I certainly think tradition and order are a good thing but it is always nice to shake things up from time to time. Too often people get so rigid about the way things should be done we forget the role of inspiration being mixed in the bag. I would really like to see a President of the Church not be the most senior Apostle. How would that be for shaking things up? We need more John Winder’s, Reuben Clark’s, Jedediah Grant’s, Hyrum Smith’s, and Charles Nibley’s in the world.

Lastly, I will end on a political note. I haven’t had a political candidate really catch much of the sympathies of my heart. They seem so canned and stale I can’t stand it. However, Obama gave a comment this week about opening up government. Boy, if reading an article ever stopped my heart, that was one of them. A candidate willing to give full disclosure to the public? If that becomes his whole purpose in life, I will most certainly vote for that man. Well, that is only after he drops universal health care. After my experiences in England, will never support government ran health care. But open disclosure? How refreshing. That requires more effort. That requires doing things you know the whole country can be privy to. Where would Bill Clinton be if he had known that? How would things be different with Bush? Either of them? Watergate? Iran-Contra? New Deal? War? How would the world be different?